Fragile Reality
by PinataRock
Summary: After attempting to erase Mobians from reality, five young people who have always had dreams about talking animals with special abilities find that there maybe more truth to those dreams than themselves. But when forced to choose between two realities, what will they do?
1. The Day Everything Changed

**Fragile Reality**

**Prologue: The Day Everything Changed...**

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic and co. are owned by Sega.

White Acropolis, a mountain range found not far from Soleanna New Town was once considered a skier's paradise. Although the New Town is well known for its sunshine and dock, the mountain range is revered for its constant snowy weather. Large slopes and naturally formed ramps made it a perfect way to try and bring more tourists to the city. However all that changed not too long ago with the sudden arrival of the mechanical madman Dr Eggman.

The doctor had tried time after time to take over the world but despite his genius level IQ; his plans had been foiled by his nemesis and his companions time after time. The doctor was still threat; although they had failed in giving him control of Mobius his schemes had struck fear into the hearts of many. Among his most noticeable was when he released the God Chaos who eventually destroyed the city of Station Square, or when he used the interstellar weapon the Eclipse Cannon to almost blackmail world leaders into surrendering. More recently Eggman broke the planet into several pieces twice, one with a method which caused only very few people to notice while the other caused planet wide chaos.

But alas each one of them had failed but he had a solution to his problem, and that was to take out the problem. His enemy, Sonic the Hedgehog, he was the one who foiled the majority of his plans but a lot of his best creations had also been destroyed by his friends. If he wanted the world, they would have to go as well. His latest scheme was to alter time and space so that his plans did work but that too had failed thanks to Sonic. It had been a hassle to escape that white world but some time with his past self had allowed him to identify where his problems really arise, the Mobian race in general.

Mobians were anthromophic animals who could speak like humans and could think like them but physically they were superior to humans such as himself because they descended from animals. How this happened nobody knew but it didn't matter, as soon they wouldn't exist.

Eggman was a bold human with a big orange moustache. His eyes were covered by a pair of dark glasses, while he also had a pair of mechanic's goggles on his forehead. He had a red coat on over some black pants which seemed to have shoes attached to them. Right now he was sitting on a chair, his expression tense, his leg balanced along the other and his head in his hand.

His plan was to erase Mobians from existence, Sonic and company included and his latest creation, the Reality Changer was just the device to do it. The machine used the power of the Chaos Emeralds to alter the very fabric of reality, and he was going to use it to prevent Mobian kind from ever coming into being. This would leave the world defenceless and would make it ripe for the taking. He had even gone to the trouble of acquiring the emeralds but that was the problem, it needed time to warm up.

The base rocked but the human didn't flinch. He saw what was happening from the several monitors in front of him. His own robotic defences were currently repealing the Guardian Unit of Nations, better known as G.U.N. who were the only real defence his own kind had from him, and even then their greatest weapons were their two Mobian operatives. There were not why he was tense; it was the absence of the hedgehog.

His thoughts were interrupted by an alarm which spurred him out of the chair and towards the computer to his left. There was an alert on the screen, "Air Space Breach" it said. The screen then showed a blue bi-plane with five figures on it, one in the cockpit, one in the seat clutching something and three standing on the wings. "Sonic! He hissed.

The figure on the middle was a Mobian hedgehog with blue fur but peach arms, belly and muzzle. Like most male Mobians he didn't wear much: just a pair of gloves, some socks and his famed red sneakers with a white strap and buckle. Normally he was laid back but his face had a serious expression and it was understandable, his worst enemy had gotten all seven Chaos Emeralds and that could only mean trouble. He was used to standing on the wings so his balance was practically untouched.

"Are we there yet?" he asked in a bored tone, earning him a sigh from the person to his right.

"Does it look like we're there?" he asked. This person was a red Mobian echidna. He had red fur with a patch of white fur in a crescent shape at the top of his chest and purple eyes. He had long dreadlocks and his gloves were like mittens with two spikes on each of his gloves' knuckles. His shoes were yellow and green and had an odd locking mechanism with resembled the top of a Lego block. This was Knuckles the Echidna who rarely came down from his home of Angel Island except when someone was misusing Chaos energy which could affect the Master Emerald. The emeralds being in Eggman's hands were such a case.

"It was just a question" the hedgehog shot back.

"Actually we are very close" the pilot of the plan spoke up. This person was , an orange Mobian fox with two tails, white fur on his belly and end of his tails, blue eyes, three long bangs of hair on his forehead, gloves, socks and his own half red and half white sneakers. He was Miles Prower, better known by his nickname Tails whose mechanical intellect already rivalled the mad scientist's despite his young age. Current he had a pair of aviator's goggles over his eyes.

"You probably can't see it due to this snow" he said.

"See Knuckles, it does pay to ask" the hedgehog gloated.

The Guardian crossed his arms with a huff. "What's your excuse for asking the other forty times?" he retorted.

"Guys, can we focus on what we're doing?" the third figure on the wing said in a slightly aggressive voice. The voice belonged to a pink hedgehog with green eyes who wore a red dress and red boots with a white strip down the middle. Unlike most hedgehogs she wears hers down hugging her head like human hair. This was Amy Rose, Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend although the speedster always denied that they had anything more than a friendship.

Knowing just how scary she could be when aggravated the pair feel silent. She then moved right next to Sonic. "So what do you think he's up to?" she asked, latching onto his arm.

"I've got no clue Amy, and would you mind letting go?"

"You've got nowhere to run to up here" she reminded him with a sly smile.

"Yeah, I know that but you're messing up my balance. I don't want to fall; it'll make G.U.N.'s diversion useless."

"Oh yeah."

"Please be more careful Amy" the last figure spoke. She was a cream coloured rabbit with brown eyes and the big ears that were well associated with her species. Her orange dress with a blue ribbon like design near the top matched her orange and yellow shoes. This was Cream the Rabbit. In her hands was a little blue creature known as a chao who wore a red bow tie. This was her special friend Cheese who was currently hiding from the cold in her hands.

"We don't want Mr. Sonic to fall" she said, with Cheese getting out a "Chao" to support his owner.

"Speak for yourself" the echidna replied, earning him a glare from Sonic and Amy.

"Guys, we're here" Tails shouted as they reached the base before the hedgehogs could react to the comment. It was a large expansive base with a tower in the centre where everyone could guess Eggman was at the moment. "Does this base look familiar to anybody else?"

Everyone but Cream nodded. "Have you all been here before?" she asked only for everyone to answer negatively. "Maybe it looks like another of Dr. Eggman's bases."

"_More likely we stormed it in those odd dreams that Tails said could be an alternate timeline that never happened_" Sonic thought, although he always wondered what happened and why it never happened since it seemed familiar. Then again he seemed to remember dying in that timeline and being resurrected by being kissed by a human, so perhaps it was better that it didn't happen.

It was then that several cannons appeared from the tower and started firing at the plane. "Looks like Eggman saw through our plan" Knuckles grunted, holding onto the wing as the fox took evasive action.

"Well, now it's a party" Sonic said with a grin as he did the same with one hand while the other arm was around Amy. He could imagine some sort of grin on Tails, who he considered a little brother to him as well as his best friend and fought the urge to look back.

"Could somebody do something?" the fox asked.

Sonic was about to speak up but Amy then turned to Cream and nodded at her, getting one back from the rabbit. "We're on it." With that both female Mobians jumped out off the Tornado 2, the name of the plane.

In an instant a big red and yellow mallet appeared in the female hedgehog's hands which all the Mobians knew was her Piko Piko Hammer. She swung it on one of the cannons which broke off instantly. Before she could fall too far she was caught by the rabbit who was flying by flapping her long ears like wings. Another cannon was broken when Cheese rammed it.

"Good work Cheese" Cream said, Amy nodding in agreement. In an instant though several more cannons were then destroyed by a blue ball who uncurled to reveal Sonic.

"You guys okay?" he asked, grapping hold of one of holes which a cannon he had got rid of. They both nodded. "You two need to get back on the Tornado and go for Eggman at the top."

"What about you?" the pink Mobian asked.

"Tails is going to have some trouble doing that with all of these cannons around. I'm going to have to go the longer way."

"Can't Knuckles do it?"

"He's not too happy about having to stay on the Tornado but we need him to break the roof."

"Okay" she pouted.

"Good luck Mister Sonic" Cream said, with Cheese who was on top of her head adding a "Chao." With that the speedster dropped down, taking out any cannons on the way with his trademark spin dash move. The rabbit then moved away from the tower, the hedgehog still in her grip. The plane quickly moved pass them with Knuckles extending his hand which Amy took, the echidna helping the pair back onto the wings.

"Sonic went on didn't he?" Tails asked even though he knew the answer. They nodded. "I didn't ask him to do that. I was fine."

"Typical" the Guardian moaned. "He goes off on his own once again, leaving us to do the actual work."

"Since when do you do actual work" the pink hedgehog commented.

Knuckles was about to retorted but was beaten to it. "Amy, Mister Knuckles, now isn't the time to be arguing" Cream said.

"She's right" the fox added. "It' time to get going." They were over the top of the tower. "Knuckles!"

"On it." With that he jumped off the plane and started to fall head first towards the tower's roof. He then extended his fists and started spinning, gaining momentum as he fell essentially becoming a living drill, hitting and breaking the metal roof of the control room.

This got Eggman's attention. "Knuckles!"

The echidna put his fists together. "Make this easy on everyone Eggman and give up."

"He's through Tails" Amy shouted to the pilot.

"The cannons have stopped firing" Cream pointed out.

"I guess Sonic took care of them all" Tails replied. "I just need a second to set auto-pilot to take the Tornado 2 back to the workshop." He typed a few more commands onto the yellow tablet in front of him and took his goggles off, tying then around the control stick. "Ready."

With that they all jumped out of the plane, Amy grabbing hold of Cream's had to slow her decent while Tails was spinning his two namesakes like helicopter rotors to slow his own decent, allowing them to go through the newly formed hole in the roof.

"Well, it seems everyone but Sonic is here" the human said with a grin. "Not the entrance I was expecting but never the less, I have been expecting you." With that he pressed a button on his chair, causing the Mobians to feel an electric shock throughout their bodies. Tails was going to move but found that he couldn't and from the corner of his eyes he could see the others having the same problem. He tried his jaw just to see if he could move it, he could. "What have you done?"

"Not this again" Knuckles groaned. "You used this trick back in the Gimme Shelter."

"Yes, the Hedgehog Be-gone." He sighed. "At this rate I'm beginning to think that I'll never use this device on the hedgehog."

"What have you done?" Amy shouted.

"The electricity coursing through bodies will prevent you from moving your bodies."

"Why can we still move our mouths?" the rabbit asked.

"So I can still see and hear your reactions when I reveal my plan" he said with an evil grin.

"What is your plan?" the fox asked.

"I'm glad you asked." He moved over to a mechanical pillar in the centre of the room. It had eight sides and close to its bottom was a control panel which spread across all of the sides. On each side was a slot where a Chaos Emerald was save one which had a computer screen and a keyboard. "This is my Reality Changer."

"Let me guess, it changes reality" Amy said with a roll of her eyes.

"Exactly. I plan on harnessing the power of all seven Chaos Emerald to change reality so that you cursed Mobians never existed." He grin grew bigger at the following gasps and glares thrown his way.

"Why would you do such a thing?" Cream asked.

"Because the biggest problems in my schemes are all Mobians. If I can remove you then there will be nothing stopping me from conquering the world.

"You would erase the lives of thousands just to get back at us?" Tails asked in disbelief, only to feel anger welling inside of him when the doctor nodded.

"Mama" the rabbit said sadly, her expression drooping. Cheese mirrored the action.

"You..." the Guardian hissed before he tried to break free.

"You should have learnt that it's no use the first time" the scientist gloated.

"Sonic will stop you like always" the hedgehog shouted.

"Yeah, he's coming and then you'll be sorry" the fox added.

Eggman then typed something on the keyboard. "It's too late for even him to stop me. All I need to do is to type the command I want, in this case no Mobians, and then press go." With that he pressed a red button next to the keyboard that made it device start up, the emeralds glowing brightly as they did.

"_Sonic, hurry up_" Tails thought.

Back at the bottom of the tower Sonic curled up into a ball and dashed through several orange, human-like but relatively round robots called Egg Pawns. These were basically the doctor's foot soldiers that took care of any day-to-day jobs and made up the bulk of his army, but numbers was the only strength they had. The speedster had been busy taking out as many as he could after making the skies clear.

"_If he had enough time to make all of these he could've at least built an interesting robot for me to trash_" he thought as he uncurled and started to physically punch and kick the few remaining enemies before he reached the door, which opened automatically.

The stairs up the tower were now in front of him and were lined with Egg Pawns. "Oh come on" he groaned. "I'm missing out on the explanation while Tails and others try to stop it is Eggman's up to."

He was about to continue but then the tower rocked and the lights began to dim a little. "Experience shows that isn't a good sign. Guess I don't have any more time to play with you guys." He then boosted through up the stairs while being surrounded by a blue aura which allowed him to ram all of the robots in his path. "_Sonic Boost never fails_" he thought with a smirk. In a few seconds he was at the top of the stairs, smashing through the door before stopping.

"Sonic" everyone in the room shouted, though Eggman did it in a very different tone than the Mobians.

"Hey guys, why are you guys just standing there?" he asked, noticing that his friends were not moving.

"Eggman's got this electric thing which stops us moving" Knuckles explained.

"Okay and what's that thing with the Chaos Emeralds glowing?" the hedgehog enquired, pointing at the device at the centre of the room.

"I had just explained all of this Sonic" the human groaned. "This is what happens when you are late."

"Maybe if you hadn't made cannons that I needed to destroy then I would've been here to hear what you're up too" he countered.

"Sonic that machine changes reality" Amy shouted.

"It's called the Reality Changer" Cream added.

"Eggman, changing reality so that you already rule it?" Sonic taunted, wagging his finger as he did. "So you couldn't come up with a way to beat me so decide to skip that step? What happened to all those ideas you once had?"

"No Sonic, he going to use it to erase Mobian kind" Tails cried out, causing the speedster's expression to harden.

"Oh. Now that I really can't let happen."

"But I'm afraid it's too late Sonic" Eggman gloated. "I've already activated the Reality Changer and locked in my commands. Soon I won't have to worry about pesky Mobians and annoying Chao."

"You're going to get rid of the Chao too?" Cream asked worriedly, feeling Cheese's panic.

"It's a knock on effect from me getting rid of all Chaos energy save the emeralds of course."

"Why would you even do such a thing?" an enraged Knuckles shouted, unhappy that any remains of his culture was on the verge of never existing.

"So that it could never be used against me." He then glanced up. "In fact, it's already begun. Note how the white space has already enveloped the top of this room." Looking up the group noticed that the roof was gone and only white remained which was drawing ever closer. "Ohohohohoh."

"Eggman..." Sonic growled.

"I suggest you spend your last few moments existing with your friends."

"Sonic!" Amy cried just as Cream cried "Mister Sonic!" at the same time, Cheese going "chao" as well.

"Go Sonic, do something!" his little brother shouted.

"But you guys..."

"Forget about us before there isn't an us" the echidna snapped back.

Sonic nodded. "Right, I think I have an idea." He shot towards the control panel were Eggman was, sticking his foot out in front of him so that we swept the doctor's feet from under him before he could even act before turning his attention to the screen in front of him.

Glancing up and noting that everything seemed paler than what it is was a second ago Sonic quickly typed in one more command before he seemed to feel light headed. "_Come on_" he thought, "_just a little longer... done_."

He had just enough time to see his statement on the screen before he lost all feeling and his vision went white. He grinned as the statement 'Mobian = human' flashed in his mind before reality faded, Sonic the Hedgehog along with it.


	2. Normality

**Fragile Reality**

**Chapter 1: Normality **

Disclaimer: Sonic and co. are owned by Sega. Sonic's, Tails' and Knuckles' families are owned by Archie comics. Human forms are property of me.

He was woken up by the worse sound in the world, the alarm clock. He hated that sound, it had plenty of meaning but none of them were good. That sound meant that the dream he was having was over and that it was time to get out of bed and go to school. If he had the energy he would've groaned. He settled for loftily sticking his hand out of the covers and after a few attempts finally hit the snooze button and pulled the covers over his head.

His feeling of content was broken when he heard the door open and someone walk in. There were several people it could've been but mostly likely it was the person he hoped it wasn't.

"Wake up big bro, its morning" a young voice said in a way too chipper tone for this time of the day.

He grumbled for answering, still tired and his voice showed. "I know, still tired."

"That was never in question but you still have to wake up. Good news is that it's Thursday."

"What's so good about that?" he replied with a yawn.

"Two more days until the weekend and a certain someone's birthday" he said as a clear hint of excitement.

"Wake me up then."

"But there's school to go to."

"Too tired, I want a day off."

"So do I and every other student."

"Not everyone is a genius like you" he shot back.

"Even I can want a break." After a few seconds of silence he shoved the figure in the bed. "Come on bro, don't do this. I know you're not a sleep." No change happened. "Fine, you forced my hand" he said with a sigh. "Get him."

He was confused for a second before a wet, rough object was then dragged his face several times but due to fatigue it took a few more seconds to realise he was being licked. After making that connection he instantly pushed away the object he didn't even know was there before finally emerging from the covers.

Naturally he was human, what else he would be, and was in his mid-teens. His clear green eyes were often eclipsed by his cobalt blue hair which was his natural hair colour; he didn't have the patience to dye it. Currently his hair was a mess and his attire consisted of a vest and blue boxer shorts.

He rubbed his hair. "Okay you win" he said, glancing at the small brown dog he had just thrown off the bed. "Happy now?"

This question was aimed at the other human in the room. He was younger than the one in the bed. He had light blue eyes and light orange hair, not ginger but light orange which again was his natural hair colour. It was straight but had three large bangs which stuck out of the rest just above his face. Unlike the teen he was already dressed for the day. He wore an open orange jacket and orange pants which were slightly baggy. His t-shirt was plain white and his shoes were half white by the heel and half red by the toes.

"You're dressed already Ty?" the teen asked.

He grinned in return. "I wanted to work on my model some more. Unlike some people I can do things before the alarm clock rings Sam. Now you may want to get dressed and stuff before I give your cereal to Muttski."

The dog happy barked in response to this causing Sam to pet him. "Ha, if he does that don't be afraid to bite him" before walking to the wardrobe, picking some clothes and heading towards the bathroom.

As he got ready for the day doing the stuff he always did: brush teeth, have a shower, gel his hair so that it was slicked back and shaped into three quills and get changed he went through some stuff in his mind just to make sure that he was awake.

"_My name's Samuel Thomas Humphries, call me Sam. I'm nothing special except if you count how unbelievably cool I am or the fact that I'm probably the best runner in town. I've lived in Emerald Town ever since I was born, I like it. It's a nice place, not so big so it's crowded but not so small so that there's nothing here. I'm sixteen so yes according to the law I have to go to school._" He mentally groaned at this part. "_What a boring way to spend my days. At least home's interesting enough. There's Mum, Dad, Uncle Chuck, my dog Muttski and my little brother Ty_."

He stepped out of the bathroom now dressed in a white t-shirt with a blue hoodie over it and baggy running pants of the same colour. He part of his outfit he adored the most though was his shoes, which were sneakers which were red with a white strap and a buckle at the middle. He dashed downstairs and into the kitchen where Ty was at the table with three older humans.

The first one to greet him was a man who looked in his early fifties but the walking stick next to him made him look slightly older, that and his now grey hair which had receded a little so that there wasn't too much more than the quiff he had. His eyes were dark brown currently he wore a blue shirt and formal pants and blue boots, not normal work attire but it worked in this case.

"Good morning son" he said as he saw Sam.

"Morning Dad" he replied. "Is your hip okay today?"

He nodded. "Yes, I told you it's not as bad now as was it once was."

"_That's my Dad for you, never let's anybody worry about him_" the teen thought. "_His name is Jules Humphries and it maybe a little hard to believe now but he was once a soldier in the military but during a mission he got wounded and needed some surgery to fix his hip. That's why he needs the walking stick and it hurts sometimes but it never let it bother him, at least not when me or Ty are around_."

The woman was about the same age as Jules and had short blonde hair in a parting and blue eyes. She wore a purple waitress dress which reminded Sam of the knee high dress that she normally wore, but the purple heeled shoes she wore were the same.

"Did you sleep well honey?" she enquired as she motioned to the empty chair with a bowl and spoon laid out in front it, causing Sam to move towards it.

"Yeah Mum, I sleep fine but I wish I could've got some more" he said with a yarn, stretching his arms as he did before going back to his mental narration to keep him on track.

"_That's my Mum, Bernadette Humphries but her friend call her Bernie. I'll stick to Mum. She cares of course but isn't quite overbearing yet but knowing me I'll eventually do something that will make her distrust me a little. But until then she's pretty cool and well she's my Mum, I gotta love her but she makes it easy to. You'd think a former solider would be stricter though_."

The second male was older than the other two adults and had grey straight but short hair and usually bushy grey eyebrows above his brown eyes which hid behind his glasses. But the thing that really made him stand out was the big white moustache which completely covered his top lip. At the moment he wore a sleeveless green shirt with a sleeveless brown jacket over the top with brown pants and boots to match but Sam imagined he would get changed at work, either that or being in a family run business really did have it's perks.

"Did you finish that piece of homework you were struggling with Sammy-boy?" he asked with a chuckle as he saw the teen scrunch his face up.

"You know not to call me Sammy Unc," he wined, "and I've got something down on paper at least, I'm not sure if it's enough though."

He then felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder and saw a smile through the moustache. "I'm sure you're going to be fine."

"_Uncle Chuck always knows what to say to cheer me up_" Sam thought as he smiled back. "_Again it's hard to think that Charles Humphries was a G.U.N. scientist who once worked on designing and building weapons, a few that Mum and Dad ended using before Dad got hurt and Mum got pregnant with me. Not in that order because..._" he mentally shuddered and put his head against the table with a thud.

"Are you okay?" Bernie asked.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Why did you slam your head against the table then?" his father enquired.

"Because my brain is very scary place and I don't want it to be" he replied, causing the adults to shoot each other confused looks.

"Just don't damage the table" Chuck said, getting a thumbs up in return. Deciding it was time to actually have breakfast Sam started to pour cereal into the bowl followed by milk before the youngest person in the room spoke.

"Do I even want to know what you were thinking about?"

He shook his head. "Not really Ty, not until you're older."

An slightly malicious grin appeared the orange haired boy's face. "I seem to remember that test we did on the internet which said I'm the one with the higher mental age, right Sammy?"

The teen mirrored the expression and started ruffling the kid's hair. "And I seem to remember that you still can't sleep with one eye open Miles" he shot back before they both glared at each other for a few seconds before Ty blinked. "I win again" Sam said with a grin.

"Oh, I thought I would beat you this time" the kid moaned. "I'll end your staring contest winning streak someday."

"But that's not going to be today is it?" he gloated.

"You know what else isn't going to happen today? You two getting to school on time at this rate" Bernie stated with a slightly angry undertone.

"Yes Mum/Mrs. Humphries" they both said instantly before they started to focus on their cereal.

"_You may think that Ty isn't related to me because he doesn't look like me or anyone in my family_" he continued in his head. "_And you'd be right, he's not related to me but he's still basically the brother I never had. I guess the best term to describe me and Tyson Miles Prower would be best friends, don't judge because he's almost half my age Ty's a genius. He could easily be in my year in school but always dumbs himself at school so that he can get the full experience. If I were him I do anything to spend less time at that dull place. I call him my little bro since I've known him since he was born, we're always together and he lives here and shares my bedroom._"

He moved onto his orange juice. "_You see, his family and my family are friends. In fact my parents are Ty's Godparents and vice versa. His dad Amadeus Prower was in the same squad as my Dad back when they were in the military and ended up becoming friends. It wasn't long before Mum and Ty's mum, Rosemary Prower, were friends too. But Ty's Dad is still in the military, think he's a general now, so he doesn't get a lot of time off while Mrs. Prower is a world famous writer and spends a lot of time on the road promoting her books. Knowing that's no way of life for him they decided it was best if Ty stayed here with us." _He grinned. "_Best decision ever_."

"_Oh yeah, I mentioned Ty's parents jobs but not mine. My folks run a restaurant, Uncles Chucks because he owns it and co-manages it with Dad while Mum's a waitress although I think her dresses were the base of the outfit. It's okay, during the holidays me and Ty help out a little_."

With breakfast finished both students got up to leave, getting their bags and saying how they'll see them later. Just as they were heading towards the door Chuck asked the Ty "If you aren't too busy could I ask for your help Ty?"

"Sure, we've got nothing planned right?" he aimed at Sam.

"Not that I can think of" he said before continuing his mental narration. "_Almost forgot about Unc's side business of fixing electronics. He was a scientist so he knows what he's doing although if there's too many he asks Ty for help as even though he's smart all around, electronics are his speciality. That and models of planes, he likes them for some reason_."

With that they wished the grownups farewell and set out but as soon as Sam had closed the door they heard someone shouted his name and a set a quickly moving footsteps. The teen barely had time to turn out before he was tackled to the ground by a pink blur hold started to squeeze him in an iron grip.

"Good morning my darling Sam" a female voice said from above him, causing him to sigh before he replying.

"Morning Alyssa" he said sullenly. "Would you mind letting me up? We have places to go." The lump got off allowing the blue haired boy to get up and see for the first time today the person who tackled him.

She was young, not as young as Ty but just on the verge of becoming a teenager. Like Sam she had green eyes and an unusual hair colour, pink. It was just above her shoulders and was like waves around her head with a tuff of hair stickling out towards the top of her head. Attire wise she wore a knee high red dress, a gold bangle on each wrist and high red boots with white stripe going down them.

Before he could react she had already wrapped her arms around his left arm. "Alyssa, can you let go of my arm? I may need it later."

"But everything is always better when you're close" she replied, tightening her grip as he started to try and get out of it.

"Morning Alyssa" Ty greeted the girl.

"Morning Ty" she replied giving the teen enough time to make sure she was who see was.

"_That's Alyssa Rose, the girl across the street who happens to be madly in love with me and is determined to make me feel the same way. I don't love her but she is good friend, just a good friend. I'm not interested in that stuff, not yet. Anyway she way look sweet but making her mad is a big mistake as she has a bad temper and is stronger than she looks. Her Dad, Andrew Rose, is an accountant at some firm while her Mum, Alison Rose is the local librarian._"

"Come on Alyssa, people might get the wrong idea" Sam moaned.

"What idea would that be?"

"That we're dating or something like that."

"And why can't they think that if it's one day going to be true?" she countered.

"But it's not true, not now or ever" he shot back before turning to the orange haired kid. "Back me up bro."

"I don't know, there are some rumours about you two going around..." he trailed off, looking away with a guilty grin and his hands in his pockets. "Maybe it is fate..."

"Traitor" he shouted. "You won't help because you're slightly afraid of her."

"I am not" he instantly shot back before slumping and pressing the index finger on each hand together, a habit he did when he was nervous. "Besides even if I was look whose talking."

"There's no need to be scared my beloved" Alyssa said lovingly. "You know I only throttle you because I want you to be the best you can be."

"Pretty sure I'm the best I can be without the pain thank you" he retorted with a role of his eyes.

"Are you lot ever quiet?" a forth voice said behind them from the end of the garden. The trio spun round to see a boy Sam's age with purple eyes and straight red hair which resembled dreadlocks. He wore a red sleeveless shirt and a necklace in the shape of a crescent moon on its side around his neck. He wore similar style of pants to Sam only his in red while his shoes were yellow and green and on the top had an odd locking mechanism resembling a Lego block which increased the shoe's weight. It was easy to tell from the muscles on his arms that he in good shape.

"Why be quiet and boring like you when you could be cool like us Kai?" he shot back.

Kai crossed his arms as he frowned. "In your case in think you confused cool with irritating. I see you're wearing your favourite accessory again" he said, his gaze pointing towards the girl on his arm.

"You're just jealous" the girl shot back.

"And I think you mean irritatingly awesome" Sam retorted, grinning as the red-haired teen sunk his head into his hands. Taking advantage of this moment he went through the new arrival in his head.

"_This ray of sunshine is Kai Edwards, the only person in our year who can give me a challenge when it came to sports. In fact that's how we became friends even if we don't act it at times. He one of the best marital artists for our age in the world and it's no surprise given all the time he spends practising. His Dad was quite a well known martial artist called Leonard Edwards, better known as 'Locke' and from what I've seen he's a bit of a slave driver when it comes to Kai's training. Wouldn't be surprised if that is what caused his Mum and Dad to get divorced." _

"You're as impossible as ever" he grumbled. "Remind me how you keep your sanity living with him?" he asked Ty.

"I'm used to it" he answered. "Shouldn't we be going? I mean we do need to pick up Charlotte yet."

"And I wonder why you remember that so well?" his big brother asked with grin on his face, but everybody present knew the answer.

The orange haired kid turned red and pressed his fingers together again. "Well... I... She..." Sam was then able to get out of admirer's grip and put his arm around his friend's shoulders.

"Aw, it's okay. There's nothing wrong with liking someone."

"Yeah, it's cute" Alyssa added. "In fact you should teach Sam to be open with his feelings and get together so we can all double date."

"That sounds like a nightmare" the blue haired teen groaned.

"That sounds like something I have to see" Kai said with a smirk, which grew a little as his rival grumbled at his comment.

"Let's see if you're still grinning after I kick your butt at P.E. again" he retorted.

Kai crossed his arms. "Don't bet on it. Today its javelin which is a sport which lends itself to my skills and before you complain last time was hurdles, one of your specialities."

"I'm still not taking it back" he growled.

"You're only making yourself look stupid, or more stupid than usual" he shot back. They started marching towards each other but Ty got between them.

"Come on guys, can't you guys try to get along for once?"

"This is getting along" they both said at the same time, there glares unflinching.

Ty sighed. "Okay fine, but can we keep moving while you 'get along'. Alyssa went ahead for Charlotte already" he said while grabbing both teen's wrists and drag them up the street.

"Wait, she left?" Sam wondered, causing both him and Kai to look around only find that it was only the three of them.

"Yes, because at this rate we're not making any progress."

"He's right" the red haired teen sighed, getting out of the younger male's grip.

"He usually is" Sam said in the same tone. It was then that they heard a dog barking in the distance causing the runner to worry that Muttski had got out but when a little Yorkshire terrier with a bow tie around his ran and jumped into Ty's arms he realised that his dog wasn't the problem.

"Charlie stop licking me" the kid said as the dog started licking his face.

"She really needs to control that dog" Kai mutter under his breath. "For all your faults at least you can control Muttski" he continued to Sam.

He have closed his eyes and put his hands on his hips to show he was annoyed at that back-handed compliment for a moment before going back to his usual positive expression. "That's not fair Kai. Muttski's older and has been with me longer."

"Maybe he's trying to tell her something by running away."

He shook his head. "Nah, he adores her. He probably smelled Ty's scent and got excited. Muttski does it all the time when I go home after going somewhere. Now where there's Charlie there's..."

"Charlie there you are" a young female voice cried out, interrupting Sam statement.

"Right on cue" he said, giving his rival a know-it-all look who countered with an unimpressed glare.

The speaker was a girl even younger than Ty. She had big brown eyes and long light cream hair which she wore in two long pony tails coming from the back of her head. She wore an orange dress with a blue ribbon like design near the top with matching orange and yellow shoes. As soon as he heard her voice Charlie jumped into her arms.

"Charlie you shouldn't run like that." It was then that she noticed the others. "Oh, hello Sam, Kai, Ty."

"Morning Charlotte" the boys replied.

"Did Charlie get out again?" the orange haired boy asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, do you think he doesn't like me?"

"Told ya" Kai gloated quietly.

"You didn't tell me anything" he shot back under his breath but loud enough for his rival to hear but stepping forward. "Did you see how quickly he came to you? He loves you, can't you see that after a year?"

She looked down. "I just wonder if he wouldn't be better without me..."

Sam sighed. "_That's Charlotte Roberts, ever polite and ever caring about everybody else. Maybe a little too much as sometimes her caring can sometimes leave her out in the cold. She hardly goes anywhere without her dog Charlie, they're inseparable. But of course she found him not long after her Dad died in a car accident. It was bad but it sort was how she became part of our group. They will never want me to say this out loud but Charlotte and Ty like each other, I mean really like each other not like me and Alyssa where one person claims they have a relationship. Her Mum, Vanilla Roberts, is also very polite and took her husband's passing hard. I should know, she's a vet so of course she knows the family well_."

Charlotte felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up to find it was Alyssa. "Don't be silly Charlotte. You know that you both would miss each other if you were apart."

"You're right Alyssa. I know that we were meant to be together but sometimes I can't help but wonder."

"_Did I mention that Charlotte and Alyssa are sort of like sisters_?" Sam continued.

The cream haired girl then looked towards the floor, her expression drooping which caused her dog to do the same. "Did anybody else's dreams finish sooner than usual?" she asked, causing the four older people to nod as their own expressions faltered.

"I wanted to know if Sonic saved the day" the older girl moaned.

"_This bit's important as it's the only reason that I even go over stuff I know like the back of my hand. As long as I can remember I've always had these dreams where I'm a guy called Sonic the Hedgehog in a world where they have these human-like animals called Mobians. They follow on day to day like a story and they always start with Sonic waking up and end with him going to bed. And I'm not the only one as all of my friends have similar dreams where they are a different Mobian. Ty's a fox called Miles Prower who prefers his nickname of Tails, Kai's Knuckles the Echidna, Alyssa's Amy Rose, another hedgehog and Charlotte's Cream the Rabbit who has this pet called Cheese who's this creature called a Chao._"

"_There's something odd about them though. First, we remember them almost like there were a memory and they're really detailed, like I can hear Sonic's thoughts and if he gets hurt I don't jump and wake up, it just keeps going. And another think, if we see our Mobian friends they remember the exact same thing even down to conversations. Then there are lots of similarities between us and the Mobians. Sonic and Tails are kinda bros like me and Ty, Sonic and Knuckles are friendly rivals like me and Kai, Amy is obsessed with Sonic like Alyssa is with me, Amy treats Cream like a little sister just like Alyssa does Charlotte and Tails and Cream 'like' each other like Ty and Charlotte do. It's a little scary and that's not even the scariest part. Even our names begin with the same letter; Ty and Alyssa even have the same last name as Tails and Amy. We have no idea why we have these dreams or if they mean anything, but we will one day_."

"Yeah, I mean Eggman's plan was crazy. Trying to erase all of Mobian life out of existence, I wonder what happened after that" Kai wondered.

"_That's another thing; Dr. Eggman features a lot in the dreams. Here he's a war criminal who tries to take over the world with his robot army but he always end up fighting the military G.U.N. who are always there stop him with a little war first. In the dreams he tries to take over the world with his robot army like here but its Sonic and friends who stop him and been doing so for years. Did I mention that Sonic is super fast, Knuckles is super strong, Tails and Cream can fly and Amy can pull a giant hammer out from nowhere_?"

"Bro, what did Sonic type before the dream ended?" Ty asked.

"He typed in Mobians to human just before everything turned white" he replied before frowning slightly. "I wanted to know what happened to everyone. Why'd it end like that?"

Everyone turned to Ty who just rubbed the back of his head. "I have absolutely no idea."

"They don't normally do that" the red haired teen pointed out. "I mean I've seen Knuckles get hurt several times but the worst I do is twitch."

"I hope they're alright" Charlotte worried.

"I hope so too but now there's nothing we can do about it" Alyssa assured her. "For now we need to get a move on."

"I have to take Charlie back home" the youngest member of the group exclaimed.

"Okay people let's move" Sam shouted, pointing his finger in the direction they needed to go in a dramatic fashion.

"Right" Ty added, pumping his fist in the air.

"Hey we don't take orders from you" Kai replied.

With that they started dashing to their destinations allowing the conversations to turn to less serious matters while Sam wrapped up his mental commentary.

"_That's pretty much life in a nutshell, not much else happens around here. It's peaceful which is nice but sometimes I wish more happened, like Sonic. He's always got something to do but he's got no family, besides Tails, and his life before Eggman was pretty awful and very lonely. I've never had to go through that myself. I'm not jealous of Sonic but I wish I had the excitement and the family. Plus being able to run at the speed of sound wouldn't hurt_."

"_I've never told this to anybody but the reason I do this is to make that I'm the human dreaming of the hedgehog, and not the other way around_."


	3. A Hero's Rebirth

**Fragile Reality**

**Chapter 2: A Hero's Rebirth**

Disclaimer: Sonic and co. are owned by Sega. Sonic's, Tails' and Knuckles' families are owned by Archie comics. Human forms are property of me.

"_Bored, bored, bored, bored, bored_" Sam moaned in his head. Of course he had to stay behind to improve his work but it wasn't his fault, he just had no interest in maths. In fact he kind of blamed the Ancient Greeks for inventing something so dull. He had been at the running track, a sure fire way to lift his mood but now he had nothing to do. His friends all had stuff to do.

"_Ty's helping Unc, Kai has to show his Dad that move he's been working on recently and Alyssa and Charlotte went to the mall_." His thoughts went back to the last time he had made the mistake of going to the mall with the girls. Alyssa had made him try on lots of clothes she had picked out for him before having to watch the two girls try on clothes themselves. He shook his head as he mentally vowed never to do that again.

"_I guess I could head to the restaurant but I'm not really in the mood for that right now, plus there's rumours of a food critic sometime this week. It's better if I don't go there_." He sighed as he continued walking to his destination, the tallest hill on the town's outskirts with a single tree at the top to provide shade on warmer days. This was where he usually hung out with his friends, the Green Hill. The name came from the fact that it was normally covered with lush green grass for most of the year but for him it held another meaning, Green Hill was name of the place Sonic had grown up and where he had started his heroic career.

His thoughts turned to the hedgehog. "_I hope everything turned out okay for them_." Even though his was fiction it was hard not to get attached as he had basically lived his life with him. "_Still, if what Sonic was hoping came true then they would be human. I wonder what it would be like if they were human. I guess it would be like..._" He stopped as his thought finished. "_...us? Nah, I'm nothing but me_." He shook his head and sighed as he continued walking. "_This is why I don't like being alone or bored, always makes me think about those dreams_."

Deciding that he didn't want to continue this trail of thought he looked up to see how far away he was from the top. He was too far off now and like everything else it was the same as always. Same old tree, same old sky, same old glowing blue light coming from the base of the tree... "_Wait, what_?"

He rubbed his eyes and looked again only to find that he wasn't seeing things. There was a glowing blue light, a similar shade as his hair, coming from what looked like a rock at the base of the tree. "_Now that wasn't there yesterday_" he thought before mentally debating what to do. It was a short argument as a second later he was dashing towards it. It was something new, interesting and it broke the mould, plus Sonic once said to "investigate anything that glows."

A minute later and the teen was there getting a good look at the rock. It was a perfect cut jewel which was blue and giving off afore mentioned light. He had never seen a rock which gave off light in real life but he had seen something just like this in his dreams. It seemed that Sonic and Eggman where after these gems with incredible power and having dreamt of using all seven he knew that to be true. "This makes me think of a..."

"Chaos Emerald, is that what were going to say?" another voice finished for him. Much like the jewel he hadn't heard this voice in real life but in had in the dreams. He turned to find bold man with a big orange moustache. His eyes were covered by a pair of dark glasses, while he also had a pair of mechanic's goggles on his forehead. He had a red coat on over some black pants which seemed to have shoes attached to them.

Sam stumbled backwards as he recognised the man. "You, you're Eggman."

"Dr. Eggman, future ruler of the world, to you" he shot back before taking a closer look at the teenager. "What a repulsive resemblance" he scoffed to himself.

"You're not exactly a looker yourself" he retorted.

"Sounds like that cursed hedgehog too" he muttered but Sam still heard him.

"Hedgehog? You mean Sonic?" he asked, shocked to find another person who knew about the hedgehog.

"How could you know of the hedgehog and the emeralds? They shouldn't exist anymore."

"Anymore? As in they did once?" he exclaimed, his mind having trouble processing this. "Everything in my dreams was real?"

"Dreams? What dreams?"

He hesitated for a second before deciding that spilling the beans may allow him to get some more information. "The ones where I'm Sonic."

"Where you are..." He stopped before he burst out laughing. "Ohohohohoh."

"I must have missed the joke" Sam said.

"How rude of me" the genius said after he stopped laughing. "Now I understand, meddling hedgehog once again getting in the way of plans."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, now really confused and doubting this man's sanity. Perhaps he was mistaken about learning anything useful. "They're just dreams, none of that really happened."

"Are you sure about that?" Eggman shot back, grinning as the teenager's eyes shot open and his mouth opening but nothing came out. "What if I told you that all that did happen and you're memories did not?"

"That's a lie" he shouted. "You have no idea what you're talking about. In fact why are you even here? You're a criminal wanted for war, shouldn't you be our making sure G.U.N. doesn't kick your butt again?"

"The military have put up a better fight than I expected they would in this reality, but that's just child's play. Nothing to take too seriously."

"Child's play? That's war you're talking about. It was fighting you that caused Dad to need a fake hip!" he roared, disgusted that anybody could treat something so awful like it was nothing.

"Dad? You have one here? And a family I presume? Things seemed to have worked out better than you could have hoped Sonic."

"I'm not Sonic, my name is Sam Humphries. I always have been and always will be."

"No you're not" he replied with an evil grin. "Yesterday you were Sonic the Hedgehog, an orphan who was constantly a throne in my side. The military here are pest but you, you were a threat. So I planned to get rid of you and your kind."

"With the reality changer..." Sam said slowly mostly to himself.

"So you know about that?"

"Yeah, you came close but at the last second Sonic added something to your commands. But then everything went white and I woke up."

"That was reality changing and you coming into the existence you think you have been in all your life. Your dream ended as because what you were seeing must have been Sonic's memories and now there aren't any more as he now exists as you."

"No, that can't be... then everyone is..." He fell to his knees. "I can't believe it..."

"You won't have to for long Sonic or what was it now, Sam? Your existence won't be lasting that long either. Once I have the Chaos Emeralds I plan to change reality again, this time so it belongs to me."

Sam got up onto his feet. "I'm not Sonic but I can't let that happen" he said defiantly. "I've seen the kind of world you want and not even your machines can live in that" he continued, thinking back to when Sonic went to a place called Little Planet which Eggman was taking over. The planet was unstable allowing him to go through time and see what happened if Eggman took over, finding nothing but malfunctioning, rusted robots there.

"You plan to stop me?" he said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "Please Sam, a Mobian could be problem but a human, that's not even fun." He clicked his fingers, causing two golden rings to appear and from them two orange robots which Sam knew to be Egg Pawns. "Get the emerald and if he interferes, dispose of him.

The blue haired boy's heart was racing as he felt moral terror but a rush of excitement at the same time. He had seen this a thousand times in his dreams and every time Sonic had turned them into scrap metal in the blink of an eye. "_I can do this_" he thought before dashed towards the closest robot and punched it. It didn't flinch while a throbbing pain shot up his up. "Ow, ow, that hurts" he winced while shaking his now hurt hand.

"Now do you see what I mean" Eggman said, hi boredom clear in his voice. "Get him" he commanded to his minions who then walked menacingly towards him.

Realising there was nothing he could Sam backed up only to find his back against the tree. "_There's no way out. If I really were Sonic I could've totalled these guys in a heartbeat, but I can't do anything. I was wishing the others were here before but now its better that they aren't, I don't want to see them hurt_." His panicked gaze fell to the Chaos Emerald at his feet. "_Guess the only thing I can do now is make it harder for him_."

He picked up the gem intending to throw it away but when he touched it he felt a surge of energy course through his body. "_What's happening_?" he wondered as the light blocked his vision, meaning the only thing he could see was blue.

"What's happening?" Eggman wondered out loud as a blue light enveloped the human opposing him, surrounding him and blocking him from view. It only lasted a few seconds but what he saw once it was gone astounded and enraged him at the same time.

"What happened?" Sam asked out loud after his vision had returned. He went to rub his head but was surprised it bumped into something else, and he felt the collision from both side. "What was..." He was cut off as a strong gust of wind blew and he felt it all over his body making him feel bare. It then hit him, he wasn't wearing anything. His hands shot to his groin instantly. "What happened to my clothes?" he panicked before looking down which caused his eyes to open in shock.

He was expecting to see a lot of exposed peach skin but what he saw instead was different. His legs and body was covered in blue fur while his stomach and arms were covered in peach fur. He noticed that his there was a piece of his clothing that had remained, his shoes and socks while his hands were now in white gloves. "What? What is this? What happened?"

He looked at his foes but now they looked bigger. Before he had towered over the robots but now they were a similar size to him. "How'd you guys get taller?" It was then that he caught his reflection on the Egg Pawns but he didn't recognise it. Apart from the green eyes nothing was the same: larger eyes, peach muzzle, black nose, ears on the top of his head and when he turned his head to one side he saw what his hand had touched, one the quills on the back of his head.

He recognised the person who was staring back at him, but it wasn't him. "I'm...I'm..."

"Sonic!" Eggman roared.

"I really am Sonic" the former human panicked. "But how?" He then saw the Chaos Emerald was still in his hand. "Did the emerald do it?" he wondered.

"Sonic, but how?" the mad scientist exclaimed. "You... you shouldn't exist."

"I know" he shot back. "I look like Sonic but I'm still Sam right? I mean I still think the same and still remember everyone. Mum, Dad, Unc Chuck, Muttski, Ty, Kai, Alyssa, Charlotte and Charlie."

After a few seconds of silence the doctor spoke again. "Now I understand."

"I wish I did."

"Sam, the last thing that you did back when you were Sonic, fully Sonic, was changing my commands to make Mobians human. I thought that it was too late for it to take affect but after seeing you I realise that there was not enough time to save all Mobians but enough time to save you and possibly your friends too."

"_That means that the others are same as me_" he thought. "_So there dreams must be the memories of Tails and the others_."

"The Chaos Emeralds are the only remainder of Mobius aside from myself due to my proximity and the fact that I was originally a human. When exposed to its energy via touch it must back you take on the form of your actual self."

"So you're saying that as long as I touch the emerald I'm Sonic?" he asked.

"Correct, so now I'll be taking that emerald. Egg Pawns, get that emerald. He may look like Sonic but his mind is still of that human who I'm guessing has never been in a fight." With that the two robots then continued their march forward.

Sam closed his eyes and smirked, his body full of adrenaline. As disturbing as the doctor's revelations were this was exciting and exhilarating, it was what Sonic's life had but his was missing. "You're right, I've never been in fight before but Sonic has and I'm have every memory he has. And right now..." His eyes shot open. "... I'm not exactly me am I?"

With that he zipped next to one of the robot almost faster that he could believe it and swept his foot at the robot's legs, knocking him to the floor before he kicked it at the other Egg Pawn, knocking it down as well. "_I can't believe it_" he thought. "_Just a moment ago punching these guys hurt me more than them but now I'm knocking them around like they were nothing. As how fast I moved, this is incredible. Now to wrap this up_."

He then curled into a ball and spun on the spot, gathering momentum before dashing towards and through the two robots, tearing them to shreds. He then uncurled and shook his head. "Okay, how does he do that and not feel dizzy?"

"Sonic, or Sam. I don't care, just hand over the emerald while there's still a chance for you to walk away" Eggman said.

"Hey, I'm winning" he gloated. "Why would I give now, especially since I already said you're not getting this Chaos Emerald."

"Okay then, it's time to get serious" he said before pressing a button on the dashboard. This caused a previously hidden compartment in the chair's underside to open and dropped a chequered brown wrecking ball to drop to the floor with a chain attaching it to the chair. He ascended into the air a little and retracted the chain slightly so that the ball was now above the ground. "Feeling nostalgic Sonic?" he asked with a wide grin on his face.

Sam used folded his arms and smirked back. "If it was Sonic sure but I've never seen this contraption before."

"Still in denial?"

"You're Dr. Eggman, how can I trust anything you say? I know you as a villain, Sonic knows you as a villain and now you're using a machine which I..." He did a double take on what he'd just said "...I mean Sonic trashed twice, one back when he had as much fighting experience as me."

"I was afraid this was going to be too easy but I'm going to enjoy this. Take this" he shouted as the wrecking ball started swinging towards the speedster.

"_I'm definitely not Sonic, but this should still be a piece of cake_" he thought as he zipped to the side causing it to miss. He jumped up to strike only to be hit by the ball which crashed into his side, knocking him down the hill a fair way. "Ah, that hurt" he moaned, rubbing his shoulder as he got up. He then shook his arms and legs to make sure that nothing was broken. "_That may have hurt but I'm still going. If were human still that could've put me in the hospital for some time_." He then frowned at his choice of words. "_Were human, never thought I could say that and have it make sense_."

Regaining his focus the Mobian looked up to see the ball spinning in a circle around the chair. "You didn't think I'd use the same trick twice with upgrading it first, did you?" the human gloated, making the once human grit his teeth. "Now get ready to be schooled!" With that battle cry he spun the chair around in a similar manner to Sonic's spin dash, causing the ball to follow and try to smash Sam who quickly jumped out of the way.

"I've already been to school today, don't make be learn more. And you've used this three times" he shot back while jumping to the side to avoid it before jumping on the ball and leaping into the air before curling up into a ball again. "_Come on, home on him and end this_" he thought, attempting to do Homing Attack. Despite knowing how to do the move he wasn't used to it so whereas the speedster could lock onto a foe practically instantly, Sam needed a little more time to do so giving Eggman the chance to flip over the other way. This caused the ball to fly around in the opposite direction, forcing the hedgehog to abandon his attack and dash to the side to avoid getting hit. "You've gotten better since Splash Hill" he commented.

"Thank you, but I can't say the same" he retorted before he lifted into the air again and started to swing the wrecking ball like a pendulum.

"_This is getting nowhere_" Sam thought as he kept dodging, annoyed that he had been forced onto the defensive by something he hadn't even been a threat before. "_At this rate I going to miss dinner and get an earful from Mum and Dad, then Ty will ask me where I was and I don't think I can explain this. A little help would be good here, maybe if Ty or Tails where here..._" Something clicked inside his head causing him to smirk. "_Wait, Tails... flying... heavy ball... I know what to do_."

He dashed up the hill, causing the doctor to wonder what his foe was up to while pursuing him. He was about to swing the ball again when he saw the hedgehog run towards and up the tree, jumping into the air and getting above the doctor. He fumed at the fact that he had figured out a weakness with this device, it offered nearly no air resistance. Nearly no air resistance, he flipped around again trying to knock Sonic out of the sky, using a lot of his mental energy to not think about how upset all this spinning was making his stomach.

However Sam had been expecting this and was able to land on the ball and then push off with his feet, causing the wricking ball to take a new course straight towards the doctor. The genius didn't even know what happened until the ball collided with the chair, inflecting a lot of damage on the chair but it still remained floating. Eggman put the chair the right way around but as soon as he did the hedgehog launched his attack at the chain's base, breaking it and detaching it from the chair.

"I win" Sam gloated as he landed; trying hard to burst out laughing at the doctor's enraged expression. "Guess you couldn't handle me just like Sonic."

"That only supports what I was saying" he shouted.

The hedgehog's fell a little. "Oh yeah, now that we're done here I'll have to think about that" he replied despondently.

"Don't get too comfortable. You may have got the first emerald but I will soon enough retrieve it, and then when the power of the others will return and then you will be sorry."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?"

Eggman sighed and put his head in his hand. "Changing reality takes a lot of energy and since Chaos energy isn't abundant anymore it may take an indefinite amount of time for them to regain their energy. "

"Oh... Guess I'll stop you then too."

He growled. "Fine, you better be ready Sonic or Sam or whatever as I won't stop until I get that emerald."

"Bring it on" he shot back instantly.

"And if any of your friend or family get in my way..." His threat was cut off by a now scowling hedgehog.

"If you harm any of them you'll wish you were still dealing with Sonic" he hissed.

"If you give me that emerald now we would never have to meet again."

"But then you would ruin life for everybody, them included so no."

"Grr... Fine then but be warned, those were the easy ones" he shouted while ascending into the sky and jetting off towards the horizon and out of sight.

After watching him leave his vision the hedgehog stood still for a few seconds before he pinched his arm with looking down, expecting himself to wake up and all of this would just be a dream but nothing happened except a pain in his arm. "Okay, so I'm awake and I'm a hedgehog who just destroyed a bunch of robots." A grin formed on his face and grew as he punched the air. "That was awesome. It may have been dangerous at first but now I've never felt so alive."

It was then that what the doctor had said while he was still human came back into his mind, causing his fist to fall to his side and his grin to falter. "I guess there could be a chance that I may've been Sonic but still, I have to take everything Eggman says with a pinch of salt. Still... I don't like the thought of my family not being real." He stiffened as thoughts of his family and friend drifted into his mind. "Crud, I said I would stop him but I have my family to think about and my friends can't fight like Sonic's can. This isn't a problem he ever had" he moaned to himself. He then clenched his fists. "So I have to do a great job and make sure he can't harm anyone, especially someone I care about."

He then noticed that the sun seemed a lot lower than what it was before. "How long did I take sending Eggman packing? Wonder what time is? Guess I better get home before someone sees me like this." He was about to see how to turn back but realised that he could run at the speed of sound and could get him home quick. The grin reappeared on his face before he zipped off at speeds he could only dream of.

The walk to his house was normally ten minutes but jumping over cars, avoiding dustbins and moving so fast that nobody could even attempt to identify what caused that blue Sam shortened it down to fifty seconds, stopping outside his front door pleased with himself for not crashing into anything. That was before he turned around and saw the scorch mark he had left on the pavement leading to his garden, causing him to wonder how he could explain that. After deciding to claim it wasn't him he tried the door and was glad to find it locked as that meant he was the first one home. It was that the teen realised that his keys were in his bag which since he had been wearing since he first held the jewel in his hand had vanished.

"_Okay then, I need to go back to being me_" he thought, thinking back to what he had been told. "_If I let go of the Chaos Emerald I should change back but if I do it here someone may see me. I better go round the back_." He was about to go to the gate at the side but stopped after one step. "_Wait, why go around the house when I can go over the house_." Having seen his memories Sam knew that the majority of Sonic's strength was in his legs so jumping to the upper window ceil and jumping again from that to the roof which the then got into a spin and rolled over to the other side before jumping off and landing in the back garden all in the space of a second.

Before he could do anything he heard a growling to his side. "Hey Muttski, what's wrong?" The little dog was in what Sam recognised as an attack stance and was bearing his teeth, something which he only did when intruders . "Someone here?" he asked following the dog's gaze behind him but nobody was there. "Muttski cut it out. Nobody's here but you and me." It was then that Muttski started to slowly move towards him, his expression unchanging. "Muttski? What's gotten into you? It's me Sam." It as he said that sentence that he figured out the problem, he wasn't exactly Sam now was he. "I mean it Muttski, it's me Sam, your owner, your friend."

The dog then leap at him, causing him to close his eyes as he expected to be mauled by his own loving pet and while he was forced to the floor he didn't feel any biting but licking. Opening one eye he saw his dog had his usual loving expression on his face. "Muttski, I knew you'd recognise me. Guess I still smell the same." Muttski then titled his head on one side in a quizzical manner. "What? This?" he asked, pointing to his quills. "I'm fine, really. It's just as long as I hold this gem I turn into this."

After motioning to the jewel in his hand, the canine than snatched it out of his hand. A brief flash of blue light occurred, blinding the teenager again but not nearly as much as before. "Muttski don't touch that you'll..." he started but noticed that his four legged friend was still the same as always. "...stay the same?" He starched his head, feeling the hair on his bare hand which got his attention. "_Wait, hair instead of fur and bare hands_?" He looked down at himself to find his human body, fully clothes and all his items with him.

"Hey I'm me again. Let me try something." He took off the bag and set it on the floor before getting the Chaos Emerald back from the dog, see the small flash and a very brief surge of power before finding himself a hedgehog again. "Guess he was right" he said idly to himself while putting the gem in his bag, becoming human again as t left his grip.

After that he sank down to the ground. "Argh, Muttski I think I've declared war on Eggman" said as the dog sat next to him, causing him to instinctively stroke him. "When I'm Sonic I have the strength to find and beat him but what do I tell everybody, that I became a hedgehog and agreed to fight a war criminal?" He sighed. "I... I can't tell them. They'll try to stop me and my friends will only try to help but they can't. I can't stand to see them hurt, I don't think I can tell them the true, not yet." He turned to his companion. "Sorry to dump this on you Muttski but I need to tell someone. This can stay between us, okay." The dog barked.

"Good boy. It's going to hard lying to Ty though, we share everything" he said dejectedly. "I don't think I've ever kept a secret from him." He then heard the back door open to reveal the kid he had just been talking about.

"Hey big bro."

"Hey Ty, have fun fixing things?"

"As always. I didn't know you were home as the door was still locked."

"Sorry, I heard Muttski barking at something and have been out here since."

"Okay. So did anything happen with you?"

"_I became a hedgehog, destroyed robots, fought an egg shaped maniac, ran home at the speed at sound and found out that our dreams maybe more real than we are but I can't tell you that_" he thought but he put on his best smile and shook his head.

"Nah. I was bored without you as always."

* * *

**Author's Note: Okay this is my next story. I know it's a little different from what I've written in the past but I'm going with it. Please review but don't flame it if you don't like it. **

**Now that's out of the way I was planning to upload the prologue and chapter 1 together but we had internet issues and chapter 2 got written before it was fixed. Updates will happen but life makes it difficult to update quickly. But as promise I did work on Big Brother's ending so please review that as well. **

**I will also like to dedicate chapter 1 to my sister's (the drawing half of Pinatarock, check her out on Deviantart, the name's the same) cat Poppy, who passed away while I was writing that chapter.**


	4. The Secret Life of Sam Humphries

**Fragile Reality**

**Chapter 3: The Secret Life of Sam Humphries**

Disclaimer: Sonic and co. are owned by Sega. Sonic's, Tails' and Knuckles' families are owned by Archie comics. Human forms are property of me.

Sam awoke to find himself in a room that definitely wasn't his bedroom. He was on a sofa and not on his bed for a starter. He wondered to the window to find that he was on the ground floor and were should have stood Alyssa's house was nothing but open plains and some cliffs next to the sea. "_Where the heck am I_?" he wondered while something else annoyed him in the back of his mind. "_And why does this place look familiar_?"

Walking back to the sofa and sitting down on it, the teen looked back on what he was doing before he ended up here. He remembered waking up, talking with his friends, going to school, finding a Chaos Emerald, turning into a hedgehog, thrashing an evil scientist, feeling guilty from hiding those facts from his little brother and then going to sleep. He had been expecting another dream about Sonic... "_Wait, now I know this place. This is the living room of Tails' Workshop, but how_?"

He then quickly looked down at himself partly expecting himself to be Sonic but found that he was still human and was only wearing a vest and boxers, his sleeping attire. "I kinda expected me to be Sonic to be here" he said to himself. "But why am I here? How am I here? This is either a dream, in that case I should be Sonic and not me, or it shouldn't exist._" _He slumped his head on the armrest. "Weird being in control here. Normally I just watch Sonic."

Rolling his eyes at how odd that sentence was caused him to notice a picture frame which showed three pictures all of them showing Sonic and Tails. "Hey I remember these." The first one was of them like they were back in the olden days, with colourless eyes and a diminutive stature. Tails was giving Sonic a full hug while Sonic had one arm draped around him. "That's after they stopped Eggman when the press found them. Poor little guy he was so shy back then. I'm glad Ty got over that."

The second one was obviously taken by themselves by the fact that only their faces showed on it. Both of them were grinning. "This is the picture they took of themselves right after their bodies changed from classic to modern as Tails would say" he said, remembering the label Tails came up with during their time travel adventure.

The last one was of them surrounded by giant sweets and cakes, both of the having a handful of something tasty. "That's when..." He was cut off by his own voice coming from the stairs.

"...I was at Eggman's amusement park. That place always did make me hungry. Seconds after that it turned into a food fight but you'd know that right?" Sam looked in the direction only to find a familiar hedgehog grinning at him on the stairs.

His eyes instantly widened. "You're... You're..." Words failed him as the speedster was in front of him in the blink of an eye making him jump.

"Sonic the Hedgehog" he said with his thumb pointing at his own chest. "But again you already know that right Sam?"

"You... know who I am?" he asked in confusion. He knew of Sonic but the hedgehog or his friends had never shown any indication that they knew of his existence.

"Well yeah, but only because you were busy with your make sure I'm the human dreaming of the hedgehog bit" he replied, putting his hands behind his head.

"You heard that?" he asked, turning a little red that somebody else had heard him going through his everyday life. Sonic nodded and was about to talk but Sam beat him to it. "Are you the real Sonic?"

"Do I look like a fake to you?" he shot back.

"No, but if you're here and I'm here then..." He excitedly jumped to his feet and pumped his fist. "I knew Eggman was lying. Just because I dream of someone doesn't mean I am them." He turned to the speedster but he was looking away with a uncomfortable look on his face.

"Yeah... about that..."

He shook his head rapidly. "No, no please don't tell me what I think you're going to tell me."

He sighed. "Sorry Sam but this is the one time that Eggman was telling the truth. You are me, or a parallel version of me who should be me."

The human fell back onto the sofa crestfallen. The doctor's words were always untrustworthy but Sonic was a different matter. He looked to see if there were any hint of this being a practical joke but there was none. "So I'm not real..."

"No, of course you're real" the hedgehog reassured him, sitting down beside him. "I'm just more real than you if that makes sense."

"Break it to me gently" he muttered before he started to feel uncomfortable by something else. "Hey, do you have anything I could wear? I feel under dressed." Sonic gave him a look that said 'you can't be serious'. "Stupid question to ask a guy who only wears shoes, socks and gloves."

"Yeah, clothing isn't an issue I have. But we're inside your head, couldn't you just think of yourself wearing something else and it would happen?" Figuring he had nothing to lose the human tried it, thinking of his everyday attire and was pleasantly surprised when it worked. "Nice shoes" the Mobian commented.

"Back at ya. What do you mean by we're inside my head?"

"From what I've been told you were always me in your dreams so now that you've touched the emerald and became me I'm now fully here?" he said but his voice went up at the end making it sound like a question.

"Are you asking me?"

"I don't really get it myself. I wish Tails was here, he's better at explaining stuff."

"And I wish Ty was here as he's better at understanding stuff. Should we just agree that you're here and leave it at that?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Oh, good job of being me by the way. I would have done it quicker but Eggman still went flying away" he said with a grin.

"Yeah, I can see why you like it so much" he replied with the same expression before it became one of boredom. "Eggman's gonna keep attacking me now isn't he?"

Sonic mirrored his human self's expression. "Yeah, pretty much. But you can't let him get the emeralds, he'll ruin the world."

"I know that, and don't worry. I won't let him get a single one."

"Right, you get the emeralds so that we can return the world to what it should be and get my friends back."

"Yeah, let's do..." He thought about it for a second. "Wait, what?"

"Only me and the others who were at Eggman's base that day fully exist. You do know your friends right? But all my other Mobian friends no longer exist in reality."

"Yeah but if we do that then wouldn't family stop existing? I can't do that."

Sonic looked down. "I can't say I'm happy about that. Your family is the closest thing to my family that I've ever known."

Sam looked down too but thought about it for a second, Sonic was more familiar with fighting than he was so making an enemy of him wouldn't be a good idea. Plus he was him and if it was one person he adored it was himself. "Look, we only have one emerald. Let's cross that bridge later." Then the world and hedgehog looked like it was fading. "What the..?"

"You must be waking up" he answered the half a question. "Look, we'll pick this up again next time."

"Next time?"

"Sure, the next time you fall asleep. I can't really go anywhere without you. Remember to keep the emerald safe, try putting it your quills instead of keeping it in your hand."

"Will do" was the only thing he had time to say before he found himself back in his bed being shaken awake by a distressed Ty, wearing his orange pyjamas with blue stripes meaning he had just woken up himself. "What's wrong Ty? Bad dream?"

He shook his head. "No, same dream. It was one that I've seen before. Wasn't it the same for you?"

Eggman's words boomed in his head. "_He said the dreams would stop but I never guessed they would repeat themselves. Why then did I get Sonic talking to me?" _He was snapped out of his trail of thought when his brother waved his hand in front of his face.

"Sam? Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course I am. It's just a lot to take in and why wouldn't it be the same for me" he said quickly.

Ty tilted his head on one side and frowned a little. "Are you sure you're okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"It's that you were quite down yesterday during dinner. You know you can talk to me about anything right?"

"_I thought I was acting normally_" he thought before he grinned, not knowing how forced it looked. "Of course I know that, I was the one who told you that brothers keep no secrets." He got up and moved over to the wardrobe. "Now would you mind if I had the bathroom first?" The kid only had the chance to nod before the teen was out of the room. "_I'm sorry Ty but this is one secret I have to keep from you. I'm guessing you'll see through me one day and I'll explain everything but not now_."

What he didn't see was his little brother sitting on his bed, a hurt expression on my face. "Big bro, what aren't you telling me? I thought that there was nothing you kept from me..."

* * *

"I mean, it was so weird" Alyssa said. "I was expecting to see what happened next to them but now I'm getting a re-run." The group had met up as always for lunch of course. When they had met up to walk to school the only topic they were talking about was that the dreams had started to repeat themselves, a topic that had continued to lunch.

"I know" Kai continued. "The fact that we get these dreams is odd enough and just as we thought we got used for them now they change? That's just annoying."

"But why have they done this?" Charlotte asked despite knowing that she wouldn't get an answer. "There must be something that happened."

"But what could have changed?" Ty asked "Everything is the same as what it always was right?"

"_I can't think how you could be anymore more wrong_" the blue haired teen thought. They sat down at a table, noticing that his admirer had sat next to him while his little brother had voluntarily sat across the table from him. "Hey bro, don't you want to sit next to me?"

"Yes Tyson, you normally argue at least once with Alyssa until Samuel decides to sit between you two" the youngest member mentioned.

"Yeah but... I want to sit next to Charlotte today" he said after mentally scrambling for a reason.

"Aw, that's so cute" the pink haired girl squealed, causing the pair of them to blush. She then wrapped her arms around Sam's arm. "But now we get to spend some quality time together."

"We're only on one side of a table" he pointed out. "Everyone else is just over there."

"You know I was wondering when you'd make some sarcastic comment and get on my nerves today" the marital artist said. "You've been quiet."

"Is there something wrong?" Alyssa asked. Sam looked at the looks of his friends who were staring at him except Ty who was looking away.

"Guys, I'm flattered but I'm fine" he replied but his thoughts were less peaceful. "_They're asking a lot of questions. Am I really that easy to read? I thought I was deeper than that. And what's up with Ty? He's been acting odd all day. He couldn't have found out, could he? No, of course not. All he knows is that sometime not right and that is how it must stay_."

"Hey, which dream did you guys have?" the genius asked. "I had the one when Tails and Knuckles were kidnapped and Eggman took Cream's mum so Sonic rescued us and Cream while Amy followed him."

"Oh yeah, when we first met Cream and Cheese" Sam joined in. "Yeah, I had that one too" he lied, figuring that since they all had the same dream in the past so he figured it would be the same now. His heart sunk when his rival started to talk.

"Really? Well had the one where you shot us out of a cannon." He meant when Metal Sonic had pretended to be Eggman and Sonic convinced Tails and Knuckles to launch themselves out of a cannon they came across in order to move on. Kai wasn't best pleased the day after they had that dream originally.

Alyssa went next. "I had the one when Amy had that bird with the Chaos Emerald and was captured by that annoying robot but then freed by that nice Gamma."

"I was dreaming of when Dr. Eggman split the world into pieces the first time with Gemerl" Charlotte said. "So we all had different dreams."

"Except Sam and Ty" the older girl pointed out.

"I guess we really are alike" Sam said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Why do you look guilty then?" Kai asked.

"Are you sure there's nothing you're not telling me?" Ty asked, a hint of hurt and anger in his eyes.

"I'm... I'm..." he started but he couldn't finish and his body slumped. "I'm going to get some air" he mumbled before he stood up and walked out of the cafeteria. The was thankful when none of his friends followed him but wasn't any solace from what had happened back there.

"_I should've known that they would be able to tell something was off, I can with them. Should I tell them everything? No, I can't. The less time they are involved the safer there will be_." He noticed that he had wandered outside and sighed. "_I have to either come clean or think of an excuse_." He was about to start thinking of a excuse but then a shadow passed over him, causing him to look up. He didn't not like what he saw. "Eggman, here? Oh great, this could be bad but I feel like robot bashing." Making sure there was no one who would see him Sam took off his bag and reached for the Chaos Emerald inside of it.

* * *

"Did something happen?" Alyssa asked though everyone else was thinking it, even if Kai didn't look it.

Ty hung his head. "I don't know..."

"But I thought you two told each other everything" Charlotte said.

"So did I but he hasn't been himself since after school yesterday. I know something happened but he won't tell me what. I think maybe he doesn't trust me anymore" he replied, trying not to let on just how hurt he was. He was trying to prevent his eyes from getting watery.

"Are you sure?" Kai said. "Sam is thoughtless; I don't think he would actually try to keep something important from you. Maybe it's something stupid he's done and is trying to keep you out of it for your own good."

"But he tells me if he's done something like that as he normally wants my help so that Jules and Bernie don't find out."

"Then we could be just blowing things out of proportion."

The girls opened their mouths to respond but it would never come as before they could part of the roof was blown away, causing everyone in the room to look at what had happened before a hover chair came through it.

"Greetings" the person in the chair announced. "I am Doctor Eggman and as of now you all may want to run." As he finished he clicked his fingers which signalled orange flying robots with the same face as Egg Prawns to appear. Their appearance caused the students to go running for their lives.

"Eggman!" Alyssa exclaimed. "What's someone like him doing here?"

"I've seen those robots in my dreams" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Those are Egg Flappers" Ty commented. "I didn't know they really existed."

"That doesn't matter, let's get out of here" Kai shouted, prompting them to join the crowd and get out of the cafeteria but as they left the table the air-born robots surrounded them.

"I need you to stay there" the doctor commanded as the others fled. He didn't continue until they were the only ones left. "Judging by your appearance I can only assume that you are the ones I'm looking for."

"You're looking for us?" the older girl asked. "Why?"

"Because you are my bargaining chips" he replied.

"What does that mean?" the youngest child asked.

"It means we're his hostages" the teen replied. "But we won't be for long." He swung his fist at the nearest robot but it didn't move. "What?"

"It's made of metal, what did you expect to happen?" Eggman gloated as Kai rubbed his fist.

"Are you okay Kai?" Charlotte asked.

"I'm fine. Thankfully due my training I'm used to breaking rocks so my hand's fine."

"But your ego?" Alyssa added, already knowing the answer.

"That'll recover eventually" he replied with a hung head.

"I'm just glad that my big bro wasn't here to get caught like us" Ty pointed out.

"Ah, your blue friend" Eggman interjected. "I guess I got lucky that he wasn't here."

"You... know Sam?" the orange haired kid asked in confusion, but if he hadn't then any of his equally perplexed friends would have.

"Of course, in fact he's..." Eggman started but he was interrupted by a shout behind him.

"That's enough out of you."

"Sam?" the four said at the same time, seemingly recognising the voice before a blue wind started to blow around them and started to destroy the robots around them for a few seconds before it stopped. Before any of them could ask what happened the voice spoke up again, this time behind them.

"Attacking a school Eggman, I have very mixed feelings about that." They turned around expecting to see their blue haired friend but they gasped when they saw was a person who they had seen in their dreams, a blue hedgehog with his arms crossed, foot tapping and smirk on his face. "On the one hand you attacked a school full of kids and that's not right. But at the same time it stops learning for a little bit so I can't complain too much."

"It can't be" Alyssa got out.

"It's impossible" Kai gasped.

"Is that who I think it is?" Charlotte asked Ty who unsurely nodded.

"I think it is but it couldn't be." After a second to gather courage he called out to his savour. "Excuse me, are you..." He felt stupid asking but the Mobian seemed to pick up where it was going and finished it for him.

"...Sonic the Hedgehog?" Ty nodded. "Yep, the one and only."

"Finally accepted the truth?" Eggman taunted him with a wide grin.

"Accepted, nah but I do know that what you said was right. All I needed was somebody I actually trust to tell me."

The scientist looked confused for a second but then resumed his normal demeanour. "Well Sonic, or should I say..."

"It's just Sonic" he harshly interrupted. "Nothing but Sonic."

"Very well Sonic, I'm glad you're here. You are just in time for the show." He clicked his fingers causing more Egg Flappers to appear from thin air.

"Now you're just showing off your teleportation tec doc. There's not a single threat to me in there."

"I know, but there is to them" he countered, motioning to his friends. "They may get hurt if you're not careful."

The smirk was gone in an instant and replaced with a frown. "If you're not careful you'll get hurt Eggman."

"Remember Sonic, you brought this on yourself."

"If you think I'm gonna stand here and let you hurt my frie- I mean innocent people you mustn't have met me before."

"Believe me I wish I hadn't met you before, but there is another way to go about this. All you have to do is give me your Chaos Emerald and I'll be gone before you know it."

He was about to consider it but Ty answered it for him. "Don't do it Sonic. If gets that emerald think of all of the people who will suffer."

"Don't do something stupid because of us" Kai added. "We'll be fine."

"Go and smash those robots before they even have the chance" Alyssa suggested.

"I believe in you Sonic" Charlotte cheered.

"You guys..." he said under his breath, touched that they were rooting for him even now. "You heard them Eggman, no deal."

His grin did not falter. "That fine, as now we get to do this the entertaining way. All robots, attack!"

"Everyone, under the table and stay there until I make a safe path" Sonic shouted before he curled up and spin dashed into the closest few robots, destroying them instantly. The group followed his advice and dived under table.

"Wow, Sonic is breaking those robots so quickly that I can barely see him do it" Charlotte exclaimed as the hedgehog jumped and used several homing attack to destroy several more Egg Flappers, Sam deciding that this is the only way to practise fighting.

"He's doing a much better job than you Kai" Alyssa noted causing the teen to scowl.

"You can't compare me to him. He's a Mobian who does this every other day, I just dream of doing this."

"_Yesterday I would've been the same_" Sam thought as he axe kicked one of the robots towards the ground before bouncing on it, followed by punching another robot into a group of them which dazed them long enough for him to hit them with a spin dash. He then touched the ground with a grin. "Come on, step it up" he taunted the robots and their creator.

"_This doesn't make sense, how can he be here_?" Ty wondered, his gaze never leaving the blue form fighting for them. "_Now I kinda wish Sam was here to see this, but it feels like he's here. I guess he really is a lot like Sonic_." His expression changed to a sad one. "_Big bro, I could really do with you here..._" He was lost in his thoughts of all the time his best friend had been there to support and comfort him that he almost missed the hedgehog's signal to dash toward the door.

That proved to be a mistake as the robots were unable to block the other sprinting students but having not been prepared to go Ty found his path blocked. He only had a second to panic before Sonic shouted "Ty, down." He obeyed instantly and a second later the Egg Pawn had been reduced to scrap after the hedgehog spin dashed it but now more had blocked the path to the door. He saw his friend reach the exit safely but stayed behind the door to make sure that their friend was alright.

Sonic then picked his little brother up bridal style before jumping away from the oncoming laser fire. "You were off thinking again weren't you?" he said to Ty who nodded. "I said get ready to run."

"Sorry, but seeing you... and all this..." he started but found it difficult to finish any of sentences.

"Tell me about it." Sonic then jumped off the wall and started jumping on the robots, a few of them being damaged by friendly fire.

"You know you didn't have to pick me up like this" the genius half moaned.

The hedgehog grinned back. "Well I can't put you on my back, you'll get stabbed by the quills" he pointed out before jumping between two robots and spinning vertical, slashing them with the previously mentioned appendages almost as if he was proving a point.

"_I'm talking to him like it's something I do everyday_" he thought as his rescuer hit the floor running to the door before jumping on the table and on to another table to avoid fire. "_It's the same mindless banter I make with Sam, it even feels the same_." It was then that he realised something. "_He called me by my name but no one said it in front of him so how did he know it? And he knew that I was thinking so much that I missed the chance to avoid this. Does he know me or is he assuming I'm like Tails because I look a little like him_?" Before he could continue he felt himself being lowered to his feet.

"Okay, get to safety" he said sternly. It left no room for argument in itself but before Ty could even open the cafeteria doors he had dashed away again and was already brawling with his foes. As soon as he did he pulled into a hug by Charlotte.

"Tyson I was so worried."

"You're not hurt are you?" Alyssa asked. He shook his head. "That's good."

"I imagine the police are here now" Kai said. "We'll need to give a statement."

"Do we have to do it now?" the genius asked, surprising everyone.

"Why not now?" the older girl enquired.

"Because I want to see Sonic. There's something I need to see."

"What is it?" the younger girl asked but he didn't answer, Ty was already watching the fight through the door's windows. The girls looked at the teen who sighed before joining his orange haired friend.

* * *

"They may have gotten away but you're not safe yet" Eggman shouted as the remaining robots gathered in front of him.

"Yet" Sonic echoed. "So you think I be safe soon as well?" This only caused the human to fume. "Oh well doc, this was good practise for me. In fact there's something I want to try before you go." He then started to spin charge on the spot.

"Before I go? A measly spin dash will not help you" he gloated. However a quizzical expression crossed his face when he stopped.

"You think I would do a spin charge? No, I thinking something more like this." As soon as he said that the Mobian took off at high speeds, destroying every single Egg Flapper left.

"Grr... The Light Attack" the scientist mumbled.

"Yep" he replied with a nod of his head as the attack ended. "Now Eggman, isn't this the part where you either get one of your bigger machines out or run away?"

"It's called making a tactical retreat, which is what I'll be doing now." With that he started ascending through the hole in the ceiling but he still heard Sonic's last retort.

"It's the same thing, one just sounds fancier." With that he too jumped through the hole.

* * *

"Well that was exciting" Kai said after the commotion had died down.

"It's one thing to dream it but to see it in real life is amazing" Alyssa exclaimed. "Don't you think so Charlotte?"

She nodded her head. "Yes, but did he have to destroy all the robots? They may have been a good one like Emerl or Omega."

"Things like that are rare" the martial artist pointed out before pausing for something but nothing happened. "Ty, this is when you explain how stuff like this is possible" he said, looking around to find the child prodigy but couldn't. "Ty?"

"I didn't see him leave" the older female confirmed.

"I'm worried" the youngest member of the group voiced. "Tyson was acting strange before he left."

"I wouldn't be worried" Alyssa reassured her. "Knowing him, Ty probably wants to make up with Sam in case he finds himself in a situation like that again."

* * *

"_He wasn't there_" Ty thought having checked out the crowd from a distance having snuck out the back way to avoid the police's questioning. There was something bigger on his mind and it involved finding his big brother. "_Sam was fine before and during school but ever since then it seems like he has a lot on his mind and he hasn't told me anything about it which is odd in itself. Then the dreams suddenly start to repeat themselves for no reason. They changed just at the same time my big bro did. Next Dr. Eggman appears and claims to know Sam before holding us hostage and then Sonic appears and seems to know me and is a lot like Sam and... They must be related. My big bro knows something about this I'm sure, there's no way this is all happened separately, the timing is too perfect._" He then turned around and started to walk towards their usual hang out spot, the green hill. As he did though he didn't notice a metallic hand inching closer towards him.

* * *

"_That was harder than I thought_" Sam mentally sighed, leaning against the trees base. After Eggman escaped he had ran straight here for some peace and quiet. He was not happy that he had to pretend that his friends and little brother were strangers even though he had blew it by calling Ty his name, plus he was still a little sore from the gang's prodding for information. "_One day I'll set everything right Ty, you'll see. Then we'll be able to laugh about this together eventually_."

He would have continued but he heard Ty shouting "Why are you doing this? Accompanied by jet engines on the other side of the tree. He ran as round as quickly as he could to find Eggman in his chair with a metal hand which held his little brother.

"Ty are you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" he shot back. "I've become a hostage for the second time today and isn't even the main thing that bothers me."

"It isn't?" both older people wondered.

"No, what does bother me is that you once told me that brothers don't keep secrets but then you must have done something which you won't even admit to me happened as Eggman knows who you are for some reason and you lie about which dream you had." His angry expression became one of hurt. "Don't you trust me? Don't you know how much I want to know why we have these dreams?"

"Of course..." he started before he was interrupted by the child mechanic.

"They why when you get tangled up with somebody like this and yo do you not tell me? He could tell us something at least. Even if most of it is lies there..." He was cut off when the hand squeezed him harder, crushing him.

"I'm the one doing the demanding here" Eggman boomed before turning to Sam. However he the demand he was going to say never got said as a blue flash came from the side of him followed by a blue blur breaking the hand.

Ty had trouble comprehending what had happened. When Eggman was talking Sam became furious and reached into his bag for something before a blue flash of light happened and the next thing he knew where his big brother once was once stood Sonic the Hedgehog who smashed the hand and catch him in a blink of an eye. He didn't know what to think, his beloved big brother just turned into a creature that he only dreamed about. He opened his mouth but nothing was coming out. He was so confused that he hadn't noticed that he had been put on a branch in the tree.

Sonic looked away guiltily. "Sorry bro. I'll explain everything I promise" he said with a sigh before jumping down to face Eggman. "First you go for my friends at school and now my little bro? You are some piece of work!" he growled.

"You know what they say, all's fair in love and war" he shot back before pressing a button on the dash board. This caused two drills to appear on the front of the chair and three rockets to appear on its back. "You remember my Egg Hornet?"

"That one which you left yourself wide open after attacking? Yeah, it wasn't a good idea then and it still isn't."

"_He's going to fight it_" Ty thought, watching the scene. "_I saw Sam become Sonic after he did something but my brother is not a fighter, he wouldn't do anything like this or what happened at the school. But it felt the same, even the tone of the conversation was the same. I can't rule out that when he became Sonic he gets his mind, getting rid of Sam. But he knew my name... So am I watching Sam or Sonic?_"

Eggman dived towards to ground, the drills whirling, but of course all the hedgehog had to do was step to the side. The Egg Hornet dug into the earth before activating its reverse gear but before it could Sonic jumped and spin dashed into the cockpit, or at least he tried to. At the last second an electrical barrier materialised around the egg-shaped villain, shocking him and pushing him back towards the tree.

"Sam!" the onlooker cried out in panic before he even thought about whether it was right or not.

"I'm fine" he winced before getting back on his feet. Before he could do anything else a compartment on base of the rocket opened and released several missiles which instantly went for him. The Mobian curled into a ball but before he could go a surge of electricity pulsed through him, causing him to freeze for a second giving the missiles enough time to approach him. At the last second he jumped out of the way but the force of the blast knocked him off his feet. He jumped back on to his feet but as he was in midair the same pulse shocked him again, causing him to mess up the landing and land on his face.

"Ohohohohoh" Eggman cackled at his foe's misfortune. "This is going better than I hoped."

"_What on Earth is going on_?" Sam wondered. "_How is he shocking me_?" Just then another shock happened forcing him back to the ground. He looked up to find the machine in the perfect position to skewer him.

"Game over Sonic" he gloated as the Egg Hornet dived towards him. The speedster tried to stand but the same shock kept him from getting up. He closed his eyes but felt himself being pulled along the ground by his foot. He opened them to find his best friend was the one doing the dragging.

"Ty..." he started but didn't get the chance to finish.

"You!" Eggman shouted, pointing at the kid. "How dare you interfere?"

"When you're about to stab my brother or the hero of Mobius, whichever one he is right now, then I can't just sit around and watch" he shot back before getting a screw driver out of his pocket and putting it against the hedgehog's leg, giving him a shock.

"Ow, that hurt Ty" he yelled before getting to feet successfully. "Huh, no shock?"

The younger human shook his head. "I figured it out. You created that electrical barrier not just to hide the vulnerability of that machine but so you could fill Sam or Sonic's fur with electricity from the hedgehog be-gone to halt his movements which would stay contained in his fur. So all I had to do is remove that charge with something metal."

"I see becoming human hasn't affected your brain fox boy" Eggman shot back causing Ty to look confused by that.

"Fox boy? That's what he called Tails? Why would he call me that?"

"Listen Ty, I'll explain everything after I take care of Eggman" the Mobian said.

"But who's saying that? Sonic or Sam?"

He tilted his head to one side in confusion. "What kind of question is that? It's me."

"Me who? You may know my name and knew that I was thinking so much that I made it more difficult for you back at the school but my big brother does not like fighting. And you do it so well so you must be Sonic but if you're Sonic then where's Sam?"

He sighed. "Look, I'm Sam just looking like Sonic and using the experience I've had in my dreams to fight like him." Ty's face didn't change. "And you don't believe me. Fine I'll prove it to you after I can think of a way of dealing with this."

"Better think fast" the scientist shouted as he opened the missile compartment despite the drills still struck in the ground.

Sonic stepped in front the orange haired kid ready to zip him away to safety but Ty shoved a yo-yo into his hand. "What? A yo-yo?"

"Throw it the slot!"

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Fine" he relented and threw it with pinpoint accuracy. The missile then hit the lodged item and detonated before leaving the compartment, causing the rest of the missiles to explode destroying the Egg Hornet, damaging the chair and causing Eggman to be burnt.

"Oh, that's why" the hedgehog said causing the kid to nod.

"Do you think I would have told you to do it without a good reason?"

"Okay, lesson learnt. You're smart so don't argue" he retorted with a role of his eyes. He then turned to the scientist. "You really are a hardboiled egg doc."

"Curse you, the both of you" he shouted before the chair ascended. "I'll make you pay for that." With that he jetted out of sight.

The hedgehog grinned at the sight of the doctor leaving in defeat but his mouth quickly fell when the human behind him. "So Sonic is Sam in there?"

"It's me Ty. I'm still Sam but I'm Sonic at the same time." Ty's expression didn't change. "And you still don't believe me."

He looked away. "It's like I don't believe you, it's just hard to believe."

Sam sighed. "It hurts that you look at me and think I'm someone else."

"Well when I asked you if you were Sonic you said yes."

"Because I didn't want you finding out." The genius opened his mouth to say something but the Mobian beat it to it. "Look, one thing at a time. How can I prove that I'm me?"

It was Ty turn to sigh. "I've thought of something but... you'll understand why I don't like it."

He gulped. "Go on."

"First, what are the five things we don't talk about?"

Now he understood why his best friend was hesitant. As a group there were five events that they never mentioned for different reasons and only Sam and Ty were aware of all five. "Bro, we don't talk about those for a reason."

"I know, but if you don't know..." he trailed off.

"Fine" he sighed. "The car crash, the curious incident of the dog and the wardrobe, the dog off, the camping trip and the Halloween incident."

"Yeah, there's one that only me and Sam know."

"I get where this is going. It was the dog off which happened when you were three, back when you and Muttski didn't like each other back then. You put on a dog costume and decided to see who was the better dog to see who should spend more time with me."

The kid's face was bright red. "I didn't ask you to explain it" he shouted before throwing himself into a hug. "It really is you bro. Sorry I didn't believe you."

He returned the embrace. "It's okay."

Ty then stepped back to examine the former human. "But how? You're a Mobian who can run that fast. How?"

"With this" he said as he reached into his quills and pulled out the jewel that made it all possible. He had to try hard not to laugh when Ty's jaw dropped.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"If you think it's a Chaos Emerald then yeah."

"How? When?"

"I found it yesterday by the tree just as Eggman did so I used it to become Sonic and fought him off."

The expression on Ty's face went from amazed to hurt. "So you found the emerald, changed your species and fought robots yesterday and didn't tell me? Why? Did I do something to upset you?"

Sam shook his head instantly. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. I... just didn't want you to find out yet."

"And why not?" he asked crossing his arms in a huff.

He sighed. "Ty, I found the reason why we have the dreams but it's bad, really bad."

"That's why you've been down all this time?" he enquired, getting a nod in response. "I want to know Sam. Not just because I've always wanted to but because you're my brother. If it's weighing you down this much then let be bear it with you. I don't like it when you keep stuff from me."

"And I don't like having to keep stuff from you. Apparently I can't seeing that you saw something was up like that." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before talking. "Ty, we weren't always who we are now."

"What do you mean by that? Of course we've always been who we are."

He shook his head. "No Ty, we weren't. Until yesterday I looked like this instead of this." He threw the emerald into the air, becoming human. He could see his brother's face light up at seeing him like this but it fell again when the caught it causing him to be a hedgehog again.

"I don't understand Sam. Just tell me."

"We are not real Ty. This isn't real, our families aren't real, our friends aren't real, nothing in this place is real" he shouted, his eyes watering a little.

"What?" he asked.

"The dreams are real. They're memories of who were used to be, that's why we have them."

Despite having an understanding of mechanic's that surpassed a large amount of the world's population, Tyson Prower was having trouble accepting the answers he had always sought. "Sam, that can't be true."

"But it is. I'm really Sonic and you're really Tails. Both Eggman and Sonic said so."

"Wait, you told yourself?"

"No, I talked to the real Sonic instead of having a dream like you guys did. And while Eggman may lie I don't think Sonic would."

His hands started trembling and he fell to his knees. "So, all the memories we have never happened. I'm really a fox with no family?"

The Mobian dashed over and hugged him tightly. "No, you've always had me and not even the reality changer can change that."

"So we only exist because of the reality changer" he quietly said to himself, having figured out that part himself.

"I'm really sorry little bro. I didn't want you to get upset, especially the day before your birthday, so I kept it to myself. I knew that if you knew then you would want to help and risk your live to help me like back then."

"I would have done that anyway" he shot back. "And tomorrow is Tails' birthday as well so that doesn't change. You kept all this to yourself all day just to protect us?" He nodded. "Sam, we'll figure this out together. Like I said before let me take some of that weight off your shoulders, it's what brothers do."

He really grinned for the first time in one day. "Thanks Ty."

He smiled back. "You're welcome big bro. So what now?"

"I need to find the emeralds once they get their power back or else Eggman will fire you the reality changer and make it so that he already owns everything."

"We're not gonna let that happen right bro?"

"You bet."

The kid then remained silent for a second. "So if I touched the emerald I would become Tails, right?"

"I guess" Sam answered after thinking it over for a few seconds.

"Can I?"

He looked away. "I don't think that's a good idea."

He was surprised by that. "Why not?"

"One emerald between two people, it wouldn't work. Either I'm Sonic or you're Tails. If you got stuck in a fight I wouldn't be able to help you. I think it's better if I hold on to it for now."

Tyson looked down trodden. "Oh, okay. I guess that makes sense."

"Something wrong?"

"No, I was just thinking how now I'm the taller one."

"Hey, you're not that much taller than me" he shot back before picking Ty up again. "I think it's time we got back, I've had enough emotion for one day."

He nodded. "Won't the police need us to give a statement?"

"Anybody asks say I was sick and you were taking me home." With that they took off, both of them looking glum for different reasons. "_Sorry Ty, but since my first birthday present will just make you sad now lending you the emerald is my only back-up plan_."

Ty however was focusing on now letting his eyes fill up. "_He won't let me even touch the emerald. In the end I guess he really doesn't trust me_..."

* * *

**Author's Note: Okay I'll be honest I've had this finished for a week but between getting ready for uni, Goseiger and Phoenix Wright I've been distracted but I'm still writing but I can't honestly say when the next will be done but I promise you it will be done. Eventually.**


End file.
